Simon Majumdar

I think this is a very salient point. Living in London does tend to colour ones vies of what is or is not "normal" or standards salaries are higher, but then so is the cost of living. Restaurants of all levels are more abundant and ( I am guessing here ) eating out is more prevalent. Opportunities to eat good food, both in restaurants or at home exist in all big towns. i know when I visit family in sheffield, there are some fantastic butchers, fishmongers, grocers etc and there are one or two restaurants that would happily exist in London. But, they are few and far between Perhaps that makes Matthew and adam in the elite group ( using elite in the sense of small group rather than any more sinister C Wright Mills type of way ) as they have to work so much harder to satisfy their lust for good food S

And your posts indicate that you have no class S

Neither particularly irritate me Racine is a place to be avoided though. I thought it was a really hound of a place. One or two passable dishes ( a few stinkers ) but lousy service and not cheap S

Isn't that statement elitism personified???? In what sense? Please explain S

I have found that as I have grown older my tolerance of crap of all sorts has decreased be that in food, music or in the bullshit of day to day life I think the reasons are many. Primary amongst them though is money. When I was a student or in my first jobs, I liked to go out, but had little money, so I had a cheap chinese place, a cheap Indian place, a cheap Italian place. I ate at places like Jimmy's in Soho. Looking back, the food was pretty vile, but at the time that was less important than the price. I also had less opportunity to compare it to anything better. As my income increased, so did my desire to try new and better places. Likewise as I tried better places my knowledge increased. I began to understand why one chef was better than another and why one dish may be better than another. I was also fortunate to have a brother who had a much larger income and had the same passion about food as I was developing. He was abloe to take me to places that I would never have been able to afford otherwise. Now, I am fortunate that ( within reason ) I can more or less eat out and where I like whenever I want. I would no more set foot in JImmy's now than gnaw my own leg off, but it served its own purpose at the time. This is not just about money, but about experience. I am still happy to go to The Angel mangal or New Tayyab and spend £20 as I am to go The Capital. The difference is I now know why The NT or AM are better than the other places that do the same thing and why some places that charge the earth can be as vile as a local Kebab joint Elitism would be going to places that cost a fortune just because of that with no reference to what was being cooked there or knowledge of whether it was any good or not S

I compare this opening with similar openings in Las Vegas. London in many ways is similar. There is a huge amount of money here and people who are willing to spend it on eating out. One of the ways to attract people is to persuade those with a track record to attach their name to a restaurant and to draw people in by way of the reflected glory I would imagine at Sketch that people will still say that they have eaten at the new "Gagnaire" place even though he is not in the kitchen. The notion is that the restaurant should work to the levels and standards that he demands in his home restaurant. Some times this is the case, sometimes not. In Vegas every hotel is littered with versions of restaurants from around the world. In some cases they can be quite good ( The ONLY good meal I have ever had at a JGV place was at JG Prime in Bellagio's )n other cases they can be truly dreadful when all that links the restaurant to the star chef is the name above the door and a lot of press. I suspect Sketch may end up in the former category and be rather good ( I am booked there in Feb for Rob's birthday ) just as I suspected that the Trotter place now aborted would be in the latter S

Roast Mallard and roast Red Leg Partridge wrapped in Gloucester Old Spot Bacon. Served with Red Cabbage cooked with juniper berries & grated ginger and apple Also a "side" of Wild Boar sausages and Venison in Red Wine sausages. These were very meaty and solid. fantastic. The Mallard was very good but you certainly have to work for the small amount of flesh on the carcass. The partridge was my favourite. Just the right side of gamey All the meat was from the estimable James Elliott ( next door to Steve Hatt ) S

agreed Tony, the only thing at SImpsons worth having is the breakfast. It is fabulous. It is about £17 a pop, but it will probably set you up for a couple of days let alone just that day. Although I do remember one author I took there who had the full works ( including an extra portion of fried bread ) and then went straight from there to meet his agent at Rules!! He is now dead......... S

This from a woman who rec's the Punjab, universally hailed as the cruddiest Indian in The West End S

see, NEVER DOUBT A MAJUMDAR BROTHER S

Joe Allen's and Christophers are my usual post theatre haunts Pre- theatre, I still rather like Mon Plasir S

Actually, it is all for supper tomorrow with my estimable brother. To be preceded by three pints on wallop at The Wenlock S

Belgo mussels are boil in the bag muck. Avoid Here is a link for Claridges http://www.the-savoy-group.com/Claridges/R...offersinner.asp S

Hat's off G.Johnson's first "on topic" comment of the new year S

sad, sad, sad And I include Wilfrid in that S

I am with kikuJ on Waga and Belgo. They are execrable places for 20 somethings who think that ( as my assistant said last week ) " the food was shit but it was really cheap so it was great" These places deserve all the vile comments the recieve S

See Wilfrid, never make statements when someone like KikuJ is around. he has far too much time on his hands S

I am not going to agree on the Ritz I often take my visiting Elmer Fudds to tea in London and by far the most disappointing in recent memory was The Ritz Claridges is probably my fave right now Browns is very good indeed The Waldorf is acceptable and better when they have the tea dance For a more simple but very good tea, Fortnums is not bad The Dorchester is to be avoided at all costs S

I have just been out to buy Two Mallard Two red Legged Partridge 1lb of Wild Boar sausages 1lb of Venison in Red Wine sausages 1lb of thick cut Gloucester Old Spot bacon 1/2 of Boar blood sausage You have not, nor could you This was at a local butcher, not a specialty store and cost a mere £20 I know where I would rather be right now S

Does this not prove the point? If you have to leave Manhattan to get to them then the whole concept of public parks is taken less seriously than in London S

No You are JUST impossible S

Macrosan I think much of what you say is very true. I think I said it is the air of the "possible" that makes NY so attractive to me. That being said, even before the horrors of 9/11 there was a very noticable decline in the energies and enthusiasm in NY. I have not been vsisiting for 20 years ( My first trip was in 1986 ) but I have been in NY on over 100 occasions in the last 12 years. The change is noticable What makes both cities so remarkable is the fact that neither have anything to prove and know it. They are not cities that constantly tell you they are world class cities. One of the reasons I loathe Sydney is that every time I go there, people are always saying " isn't this the greatest city on earth/" er no, it isn't. It is a pissant little town of a couple of million that thinks having a great fireworks display once a year makes them important. Give me Melbourne any day NY and London are constantly re-inventing themselves. I can see why people love Paris for its unchanging charm. Little has changed ( in terms of the buildings for centuries ) but to me that is a state of atrophy. I love coming in from Kennedy and seeing cranes and building works, the same in London. Nothing inspires me more than seeing the Swiss Re ( The Gherkin ) raising itself over London. Bringing this back on topic to food. I love the way that NY ( in particular ) and London keep trying new things that other cities don't. Sometimes this is fadism and leads to a squealing herd of wanabees running around the city after a new chef, but often the results are extra ordinary. NY rules the world in this aspect S

Man U and Arsenal are for tourists A real Londoner would support Chelsea or West Ham S

my skates are all i need to get home flippin' hard trying to 'blade on ice though, have to say j This statement now makes sense in the context of you turning a mere 25 yesterday S

I agree that London is expensive - The tube is god-awfully expensive - Having said that here are a few cities that are as exciting -- HKG, GIG, IST and Ofcourse Berlin is fast getting there ..... I like all those cities, but do they matter in the bigger scheme of things? Probably not. S